


Fourth Of July

by Angel_made_of_scars



Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: Aspergers, Autism, BAMF!Nigel, Fireworks, Fourth of July, M/M, Nigel very early after Bucharest, Spacedogs, Violence, meltdowns, tagged for safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 23:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11390601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_made_of_scars/pseuds/Angel_made_of_scars
Summary: Adam has a few meltdowns over the Fourth of July holiday. Nigel is a scary badass.





	Fourth Of July

They were watching the fireworks exploding from far off in town, sitting on the balcony. The sound was not too bad for Adam, so far away. He hated loud noises. He watched as a particularly colorful one popped, sending purple and green streaks across the sky.

He leaned back against Nigels chest and Nigel hugged him tighter, and squeezed him between his legs. He pressed a kiss to Adams temple and Adam hummed in appreciation.

"Are you having a good evening darling?" Nigel asked, barely a whisper.

"Yes, the fireworks always reminded me of stars dying. They're so powerful, and they burst, and I imagine it would be very loud if there was sound in the vacuum of space. Fireworks are the closest things we've got." Adam said. Nigel nodded and pointed back at the fireworks, making his attention focus again.

Suddenly, there was a loud squealing noise, so very close, and Adam was down. He curled into Nigel holding his hands over his ears and yelling. Nigel could hear the laughter. That was someone outside the building. Nigel covered Adams hands with his own for extra padding and when the noisemaker finally gave out, he picked up Adams shaking form.

"Come on, quickly star." Nigel said.

He laid him on the couch, still curled into a ball and crying now, and he ran to the closet. He pulled out his bag that Adam knew not to go in, and searched through the mess of different firearms until he found what he was looking for.

"Adam, put these on."

"What?" Adam said, opening his eyes wider. He wasn't listening, he was reading lips. Nigel spoke slowly.

"They're dampening earmuffs, meant to soften the sound of gunshots, they work very well at canceling sound. Put them on." Nigel coaxed.

It took a moment to persuade him with gentle back rubs that there was no noise, and his hands flew off his ears. He grabbed the earmuffs and shoved them on his head, before any unwanted noise could get through.

"You can still hear me Adam, they don't stop the noise, but they do help." Nigel explained. Adam nodded in agreement with that statement.

"Why do you have these?" He asked. Nigel sighed.

"I was... going to teach you how to shoot a gun. For your own safety! In case you ever got robbed, or needed to defend yourself." Nigel said. Adam looked visibly shaken.

"I-I can't- I don't think I could, even if I knew how, I don't think I could." Adam said shakily. Nigel nodded, just as another noise maker went off. It was loud popping, like gun shots.

Adam started screaming. Actually screaming. He pressed the earmuffs down tighter, and his mouth clicked shut, reduced to whining and tears. Nigel held him tightly, draping himself over the curled up ball on the couch, and didn't move until the noise stopped. There was that fucking laughing again.

"Adam, can you hear me darling? Can you read my lips?" Nigel asked. Adam nodded. He could hear him.

"I need to go take care of some business. It won't take long, but it might be loud." Nigel said.

"No! Don't leave me!" Adam said quickly.

"It's alright, it's alright, I'll be right outside. But it might frighten you star. I don't want you to watch." Nigel said. Adam looked shaken, but he finally nodded.

Nigel was up and back in his bag in seconds. He grabbed his best hand gun, loaded it, and walked to the door. Adams shout stopped him. He stood shakily and hugged Nigel. He hugged him back just as tightly.

"Don't kill them- they're just teenagers- don't hurt anyone. Please Nigel." Adam begged. Nigel couldn't argue, even if he did want to put a bullet in each of their heads.

"Alright star, I won't hurt them. But I will scare the shit out of them." Nigel growled. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and tucked his gun in his pants.

"Be back in just a moment." Nigel said, pressing a kiss to his head.

He opened the door and closed it behind him, and Adam flew to the window. He could see Nigel briefly going down the metal stairs to the next floor down, then lost sight of him. Another noisemaker went off.

It was the squealing again, and Adam pressed the earmuffs more firmly to his head. Then he saw Nigel come into view. He was running towards the group of three. He started stomping on the lit noisemaker, and Adam watched the sparks dim as he crushed it over and over. He threw his cigarette out of his mouth, and Adam opened the window a crack to hear them.

"Can you not read the fucking sign?! Let me read to you, "Combat veteran lives here. Please be courteous with fireworks!", how do you not understand that, tell me." Nigel said in a rush.

"Well, we know that weirdo isn't a veteran. He's just a jumpy prick." One of them spoke up.

"Oh, ok." Nigel said, cracking a smile. He even laughed.

"You- you just want to... mess with him." Nigel said. They all nodded, and started to laugh along, until Nigel pulled his gun and shot into the air. They all shrieked and fell backwards, almost comical in the way they all fell to sit at Nigels feet.

"Don't worry! It's just- just a loud noise! I'm messing with you, see?" Nigel said, punctuated by another shot. No one moved as Nigels smile dropped.

"You see, I could use this. I could shoot you in the head, or better, the leg. I could dig out the bullet with my bare hands and stuff your noisemaker into the flesh wound, and it would cauterize, do you know what that means? It would melt the flesh, to stop the bleeding. You would live! And no one would believe it was more then an unfortunate firework accident, because I'm very good at covering my tracks, and there's so many loud noises tonight!" Nigel hollered, firing off another shot into the sky.

"You see? No one can tell it's gunshots and not fireworks, no one would know. And you see, that jumpy prick, his prick is mine. He is under my protection. So! The way I see it-" Nigel stopped, yanking the lead boy to his feet and holding him by the collar. He pressed the gun to his head and Adam pounded on the window.

"Nigel!" Adam screamed, loud enough for everyone to hear. Nigel didn't turn around, but he knew Adams voice. Instead of scaring him further he whispered.

"You can take your noisemakers, and firecrackers, and fucking sparklers, and you can give them to me for safe keeping, or I put a bullet in you and make sure you never forget my face. Do you understand?" Nigel asked.

"I-I-"

"No. Hush, just point to them." Nigel said. The boy had tears streaking down his face, as he pointed to the curb, where there was a plastic bag.

"Well... tell you what, I'm not going to ruin your fun. How about you just give me the noisy things, and go shoot the others far, far away from here." Nigel said. He lowered the boy, and patted him on the back, waving with his gun towards the bag.

"Go on, sort them." Nigel said. He picked back up his cigarette and took a drag. The boy ran towards the bag and dropped to his knees, frantically sorting through, and picking out the bad ones. He grabbed the rest and looked to his friends, before they bolted.

"That's right! Run! Runty cunts!" Nigel yelled, firing one more shot into the air. The all tripped at once and screamed, running as fast as they could.

Adam sank to his knees, and covered his mouth. He felt tears spring to his eyes. Nigel was scary. If he hadn't said something, who knows if he would have shot. He rubbed at his eyes as he began to cry, and balled his hands into fists, ready to hit himself, but Nigels warm hands covering his own stopped him.

"I told you I wouldn't kill them star, I meant it. I was only scaring them-"

"You scared me! You're scary!" Adam cried. He yanked his hands away and hit his kneecaps, and Nigel sighed. He knew he had to let Adam calm down. He stood up and left the room to put his gun away. Adam sat still.

Nigel loaded his bag, and left the house without a word. Adam knew he hadn't really gone. He knew he was hiding the guns just inside the sewer line, under the manhole, outside their building. It was likely the police would come looking after the way Nigel had threatened the teenager.

When Nigel didn't come back, Adam stood on shaky legs, and looked out the window. He saw Nigel collecting bullet casings from the ground with a flashlight in his hand. When he seemed satisfied, he threw them down the hole with the fireworks and guns, then covered it, and stomped out his cigarette. He headed back towards the stairs, and Adam stood up.

He didn't want to pace, or seem agitated. He wanted to keep watching the fireworks with Nigel. So he stood in place, rocking on his feet, waiting, until the door opened.

"Adam, do you want me to-"

"No. You scared me, but I know y-you wouldn't hurt me. Right? Even if I did something bad, you would never hurt me." Adam said in a rush.

Nigel stepped forward slowly so as not to startle him, and slipped the earmuffs off his ears. He let him adjust to the sound, and put them on the couch, before opening his arms. Adam stepped into them slowly, and Nigel gently wrapped his arms around him.

"Adam, you could torture me, keep me locked up without food or water, you could put a bullet in my heart, and I would not lay a finger on you. Do you know why?" Nigel asked. Adam shook his head.

"Because I love you star. I didn't know what real love was until I met you, and now that I do, I will never harm it. I'm sorry I scared you darling, I did warn you not to watch." Nigel said.

"I had to make sure you wouldn't... kill them." Adam said timidly.

"Dear Adam, I wouldn't harm a child." Nigel said. He didn't add, "unless that child had a gun", or "unless that child shot one of us", or even "unless that child broke in". All the "unless" he kept hidden, because Adam didn't need to be scared further.

"Promise?" Adam asked. Shit.

"There are certain circumstances-" Nigel started, and Adam tensed.

"If I was protecting you star, or myself, no one would stand in my way. I'm sorry. I can't lie." Nigel said. Adam sighed.

"I know you wouldn't hesitate if they tried to hurt us, but you've got to learn to hesitate. For me." Adam said. Nigel slumped against him and pressed a kiss to his head.

"Alright star. For you." Nigel said. Adam seemed satisfied at that. He pulled them back to the balcony, where they took up their previous positions, and Nigel held Adam tight. They watched the rest of the fireworks in silence.

* * *

The next morning Adam was woken by a knock on the door. Two officers were there to inspect the house, looking for weapons. Nigel talked to them, and told them how the kids had threatened him, said they could get him arrested because he was foreign. He told them the kids were tormenting Adam and he scared them off, but didn't go into detail about how.

The whole time the police searched, Nigel comforted him, as they moved his things. He made them put things back after they touched them, and then he moved them exactly into place. He began to meltdown when they got near his spaceship models.

"Stop it- stop! Make them stop!" Adam screamed. Nigel held him back.

"Please! Don't touch those, don't. He's got aspergers, he's very sensitive about his spaceships. You can't touch them! I touched one once and he took it apart piece by piece, and cleaned every bit by hand, before putting it back together. It took days- he wouldn't eat or go into work. You can't touch those, please." Nigel begged. The officers relented, and Adam fell to the floor in tears.

"Adam, darling, they didn't touch, it's alright. Look, I'm going to make them leave, they're leaving now." Nigel said. He left Adams side reluctantly, and pushed the officers out the door.

"Will he be alright, or does he need an ambulance?" The woman asked.

"For fucks sake! An ambulance?! You think sirens, restraints, and sedatives would be helpful?! Please do not come back unless you have an arrest warrant and are pressing charges. You'll upset him further." Nigel snapped, slamming the door on them. He rushed back to Adams side and helped him stand up, pulling him onto the couch.

They did breathing exercises, Adam pressed against Nigels chest to feel how he was suppose to breathe, and Adam copying. Next Nigel took his hands and massaged them, especially the joints, soothing him. He had held them in fists so long it hurt. Then, he had Adam sit forward, and he rubbed his shoulders and back until he was nearly asleep.

"Go get back in bed, I'm calling into your observatory to tell them you can't come in today." Nigel said. Adam did as he said, and Nigel picked up his cell phone, going through the five contacts to pick the right one, and dialing.

As soon as he had hung up, he crawled back into bed, and started to drag his nails along Adams back like he liked. Adam shivered and sat up, yanking his shirt off, and laying back down. Nigel chuckled at his eagerness and began scratching again, as Adam got more and more sleepy.

"Just close your eyes. I can hear it in your breath darling, it's so slow and steady. You're barely handing on."

"I want to enjoy this." Adam said quietly.

"You know, there are usually fireworks for a few days after the fourth. If we watch them tonight, I will scratch your back while they light up. Does that sound alright?" Nigel asked. Adam nodded and yawned, before burrowing his head into the pillows. He was asleep within minutes.

Nigel stopped scratching and grabbed the aloe-infused, lavender scented lotion he had ordered off some fancy website. He rubbed down Adams back with it, and then put it back, before wrapping himself around the sleeping man. He pulled him closer, and thought about what he'd promised.

He could learn to be less dangerous. Less scary. For Adam. And he would always protect him from the loud noises.

**Author's Note:**

> It was the Fourth of July,  
> You and I were, you and I were fire, fire fireworks, that went off too soon.  
> And I miss you in the June gloom too.


End file.
